Selling Baby Prairie
a short play by Mark Rigney
Welcome!
In Dr. Lisa Jackson-Schebetta's TH340: "Climate Justice Theater Action" class, students have been subdivided into small groups, or "pods" to participate in Climate Change Theater Action 2023, a worldwide festival of short plays creating awareness about the pressing need for Climate Justice. Climate Change Theater Action promotes the creation of eco-theater, as well as the execution of a related “Action” promoting change within a community. We, the “Cozy Climate Crew” Pod—Ellery Shea, Nina Renkert and Max Weigel-- are producing the play Selling Baby Prairie by Mark Rigney. You can read more about CCTA here:
The Play
As part of CCTA 2023, we will be producing the play Selling Baby Prairie, a play that celebrates biodiversity, vegetal politics, creating mental space for new perspectives, and allowing for plants to exist as they are. In the play, two plants that compose a naturally-occuring and gently maintained wildflower garden outside become convinced that they must conform to typical garden beauty standards so that their caretaker may sell their home to a critical public. In the end, though the plants are unable to change themselves, the purchaser of the home changes the way they view the wildflower garden–and all it takes is a simple and transparent letter from the garden caretaker explaining why they let the plants be as they are!
The Action:
As part of CCTA 2023, we will be producing the play Selling Baby Prairie, a play by Mark Rigney that celebrates biodiversity and invites audiences to consider vegetal politics, creating mental space for new perspectives, and allowing for plants to exist as they are.
In the play, two plants that compose a naturally-occuring and gently maintained wildflower garden outside become convinced that they must conform to typical garden beauty standards so that their caretaker may sell their home to a critical public. In the end, though the plants are unable to change themselves, the purchaser of the home changes the way they view the wildflower garden–and all it takes is a simple and transparent letter from the garden caretaker explaining why they let the plants be as they are! This is the sort of attitude we hope to promote by producing this play:a willingness to hear each other out and adopt a less anthropocentric way of thinking. Instead of building gardens that look beautiful to us, why not build ones that make Mother Nature feel beautiful?